UK - As the exclusive UK dealer for Telex Radiocom's BTR 700 and BTR 800 intercom systems, Orbital Sound has announced eight new sales of both systems, which have been used on a variety of applications across the live broadcast and production industries. Deployed on projects as diverse as Edinburgh's International Festival, Glastonbury Festival, a host of West End Musicals including Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest production The Woman in White and, most recently, on location filming the new Sahara Productions' blockbuster movie - Sahara - starring Penelope Cruz and Matthew McConaughey.
The systems have proved their versatility and simple operation straight out of the box, providing the perfect solution in any environment where real time 2-way communications are required. Orbital's sales and installation manager Tom Byrne collaborated with Joe Buxton of MR Technical S
Hong Kong - In June 2004, only 13 months after the contract was awarded and with the theatre remaining in full operation throughout the period, Stage Technologies successfully completed the final phase of a project to refurbish the flying system at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. The automation solution, installed in the venue's Grand Theatre, means that the Hong Kong Cultural Centre is now equipped to provide flying effects to stand alongside the most prestigious and technically advanced performing arts centres around the globe.
The work included the design and installation of a counterweight assist flying system, able to switch between powered and manual flying. With the initial phase of the project due to be delivered in November 2003 the project management and design teams pulled out all the stops to achieve the deadlines. Jim Roberts, Stage Technologies' project manager com
Austrian Truss Construction was showing its multi-frame trussing which offers excellent stability, as there is no welding on the frame. Designed for ease of transport the sections can store inside each other and three will fit into a truck.
Total Solutions Group seemed upbeat, having used the PLASA Show to highlight its recent re-branding. The 'Group' now serves as an umbrella for the familiar brands - Total Fabrications, Slick, T2, new wave truss and the company's training initiative, Total Training.
5 Star Systems from Holland featured products from a new intelligent lighting manufacturer in Budapest, including a 250W wash fixture. Also showing was a prototype 38-LED moving light, using 3W blue and green LEDs and 1W reds.
Taiwanese company Acme Effects launched the iSoloution range of lighting products in association with UK partner Pro Light Concepts. With no Western backing, the company has worked hard to ensure its products are distributed worldwide.
Alongside its ranges of control options, coloured fluorescent tube specialists Anytronics were showing new additions to the outstation options for its Anylight systems, the new DP804 dimming pack and its enhanced range of T5 fluorescent fixtures.
Swedish company Beacon AB was showing its comprehensive gobo catalogue with over 350 new gobo designs. Still attracting strong interest was its Blackline range of gobos launched at PL
Klaus Weber has recently been appointed as regional manager, Germany, Austria and Switzerland for Columbus McKinnon and was with the team at PLASA for the first time. The Hurricane manual chain hoist designed for inverted and regular use made its UK debut.
Litec Srl had plenty of new products, with the debut of the EXE brand, a dedicated range of electric control equipment for electric motors and hoists. The Litecad for final packaging and a new collection of riggers' technical clothing were also launched.
New from British Harlequin is the wheeled roll storage cart, which provides safe storage and easy handling of flooring. The cart holds up to 10 rolls of Harlequin Studio Flooring and has already been supplied to several European venues.
According to Monica Rigono, boosting the profile of the Manfrotto brand was a key objective on the Lino Manfrotto & Co stand, aided by the latest 196 and 396 series of articulated lighting support arms. A range of new Litec product was also on display, including new ranges of host controllers' and accessories, plus a new range of technical clothing: "It's designed from scratch, manufactured in Italy and is not merchandise!" said Litec.
Milos Structural Systems was showing its new image and logo along with its 120-page catalogue detailing the company's huge product range. A new addition to its xStage systems is a lightweight, low profile stage.
Swing-wing trussing has been with us for a while, but Tomcat has taken the concept further, combining load strength of over 3000kg UDL on a 12m span. Designed primarily to carry a variety of moving lights, fix points are also available for conventional lamps. Brilliant Stages shared the stand and had refined its Dek product to a lighter variant called Dekex. A weld-less extruded aluminium deck frame houses all the usual convenient fittings; an 8ft x 4ft section weighs just 40kg, yet on six legs supports 560kg per sq.m. One for the educational market.
Stage Technologies showed its rental kit for the first time aimed at small-scale, short-term rentals. The company has been busy with projects including a recent fixed installation in the Aberdeen Music Hall, where it was required to provide an infrastructure to protect the building for refurbishment purposes.
City Theatrical, exclusively distributor of A.C.T Enterprises Inc, was showing its new device to hang moving lights from. The simple, inexpensive and versatile piece of hardware allows moving lights to be hung on the truss where the designer intends and not where the truss dictates. The newest members of the WDS family - the wireless Rx2 DMX receiver and OEM wireless DMX receiver - were also attracting attention.
Advanced Rigging Motion Pro is the latest product from German company SET (Scenic Event Technology). Designed typically to control any motion control equipment, chain hoists, electric fly bars, wire winches, the most attractive feature of this Windows-based software is the communications system for relaying data and commands to the various devices - namely Ethernet via Cat 5 cable, which greatly affects costs. The system complies with the latest German safety regulations DIN 56921 and 56925 as well as DIN-V-19250.
A specialist manufacturer, Serapid produce chain-driven devices for vertical lift and horizontal motion of stages and dollies. A rigid product - inasmuch as when lined up vertically the chain links rigidise into structural support towers - the Serapid chain drive is available in five lift sizes providing motion for loads up to 10 tons, lifting 7m vertical.
LTM, the new company formed by John Jones and Dave King - previously of PCM - was launched with a champagne breakfast on the Sunday morning. Jones reported that he thought PLASA was the ideal environment for the launch, with the whole industry before them, and that they enjoyed a very busy show.
Hubert Dubeau from Gala Systems said the company was on a fact-finding mission to discover what clients need from them. New Spiralift technology is in development, with plans for an October launch.
Exhibiting at PLASA for the first time in five years was Eurotruss, manufacturer of aluminium trussing. Technical director Henk Tiekstra said the company was looking for a UK distributor and had realized what an important show PLASA was for reaching established clients and potential customers.
American company Rose Brand, a supplier of fabric and custom-sewn goods, was at PLASA for the first time. Josh Jacobstein said the company was hoping to give visitors to PLASA a taste of products they might not be familiar with and reactions from visitors were extremely favourable. Triple E was sharing the stand and showing its interactive quotation software for Triple E track systems.
Steeldeck Sales had a busy show with a steady stream of potential customers. The company was showcasing work it has undertaken and also showing its refinements on the knob used to lock components together - making assembly easier.
New stands from Mobiltech include the APLtek 5500 and 6500. Equipped with the KBS key block system and low loading, these can be used on uneven ground and have one leg that can rest up against a wall. The SpTEK wind-up stands are now available in black.
Slingco was again showing its revolutionary Cablenet 'virtual floor'. Strong enough to hold the weight of technicians, the floors are virtually invisible from ground level and cast no shadow.
An upgrade to its hoist control software saw Chainmaster refining a well-liked product. More significantly with BGV D8, the rigging standard for hoisted loads above the public, Chainmaster now offers a retrofit double-brake assembly for all its hoists. (BGV D8 allows for 50% rated load above the public, provided the hoist is double-braked).
The new Prolyft hoist from Prolyte is a range of chain hoists with a built-in scannable code device that enables users to data track their equipment for servicing and utilization. Also new, Prolyte Barrier is a lightweight crowd control barrier. Just 35kg per 1m section, it has a simple interlock and folds totally flat for storage.